David Miller, a reader, questions if the enthusiasm greeting the arrival of Gov. Eliot Spitzer can survive a culture that he perceives as too timid and too divisive. Miller particularly questioned a point I made in a column about Spitzer in which I called on the new governor to be attuned to subtleties of Upstate debates - such as the intricacies regarding construction of a new sewage plant at Armory Square.

Miller wrote: "If the State Tower Building, or any of the others you mention, were to be proposed today it would be opposed by neighborhood groups, civic groups, etc. because it would block scenic vistas, disrupt traffic patterns, displace existing homes and or businesses, ruin historic streetscapes and probably other reasons ... As long as thoughtful people see these issues so differently, and are willing to spend years in the courts fighting out which side should prevail, there will be no glory days for NY."

I appreciate the point, which can hold true for communities or individuals: It is rare that you can ever start living in a fresh way unless you are willing to leave something behind. In the immortal words of my mother, staring at a bedroom mess: "You've got to learn how to throw things out!", which really was an admonishment to show courage.

On the other hand, my mother threw out a cardboard box filled with - AARRGGHHH - my old baseball cards, including Mays and Mantle, because she feared, I kid you not, spontaneous combustion, from the intense heat created by baseball cards sitting on top of one another.

Somehow, both those examples make the point. I wasn't asking Spitzer to be a kind of grumpy, omnscient, stodgy father figure who could step in and stop new projects whenever they're proposed. My point is that we've got a history in Central New York (and every big Upstate city, for that matter) of small groups of powerful, plugged-in politicians and developers shoving through projects they dearly want by labeling anyone who asks a question as "obstructionist" and then flying the banner of "progress" - often heedless of wise and thoughtful planning standards, and often to the longterm detriment of the community.

Alliance Bank Stadium, of course, is the classic, gold-star example. I would also note how every couple of days I run past this creepy scene on Onondaga Hill: There is a tree-lined walkway and old historical marker in front of the old cobbletone-walled poorhouse, except the poorhouse is no longer there, demolished in a rush by the county (in the face of a plan to reuse the building as treatment space for recovering addicts) to make way for ... nothing.

I could go on. Cicero Commons, for instance, was a planning mistake: The whole idea of creating a "there" in Cicero was backwards; the "there" had to have some logical impetus beforehand, which was the magic behind the brilliant reuse of the old Fayyetteville Mall space.

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt on the original Interstate 81: Some people didn't see the destructive effects of dropping expressway bridges on top of the core of a city, although Mayor Henninger certainly did: He wanted 81, but he didn't want it there. Forty years later, with the interstate on the cusp of being rebuilt, we have a chance, in some way, to do it better - which would demand the kind of courage David Miller would love to see.

In any event, I'm rambling. Let me give you a precise example of what I hope Spitzer will or won't do: A few months ago, Spitzer showed up at a big Central New York fundraiser attended by a crowd that included executives from Destiny, who became big Spitzer donors. Later, during the whole furor over Common Council approval of the Destiny project, Spitzer's people were making behind-the-scenes calls to try and get some councilors to vote in favor of a new and hotly-debated public incentives plan.

It was a political mistake, a misstep. There was an opportunity for Spitzer to step in, as a supporter of the mall expansion, yet also as as a voice for some of the people who were receiving no answers - indeed, who were hardly being treated with respect - on massive, far-reaching questions of design and impact and traffic and pedestrian flow and the long-term future of the North Side and logical questions about the financing deal ... There was a chance to be both thoughtful and "a big stick," to be an advocate but also a voice for the powerless, and in this case Spitzer went the traditional way: Big plan, big developer, the siren call of jobs ... almost in a reactive way, his people made some calls.

It could have been handled much differently. That's what I hope he sees. As for big projects, I would argue that we haven't completely lost our will: While some people still nitpick about the location of the Carrier Dome, I actually think they built it in the right place at tremendous benefit to Syracuse. Another "for instance" might be the repair of the notorious "Can of Worms" in Rochester, one of the biggest highway projects in New York history. But the sewage plant in Armory Square is not some easy call of muscle and vision versus flaccid timidity: We are talking about destroying the parking area that allows for the one successful OnTrack venture (excursions to Syracuse University events that generate energy downtown). We are talking about building a waste treatment plant on the scene of what people around the country have acknowledged as an impressive downtown experiment (Armory Square itself). We are talking about technology that will strill involve at least a dozen times a year in which treated sewage is dumped into Onondaga Creek, which leads me in a way back to the same point in the letter: With the techonology and potential of 2007, is that really the best we can do?

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I go back to a point made in Syracuse by the late Richard Shatten, a guy remembered as a brilliant strategist for his role when Cleveland got up off the mat: The whole idea of moving forward as a community in a new way, rather than in an adversarial, our-way-or-the-highway classic way, is in itself a new technology - and a technology we need to learn if we really want this town to turn around.